Yangtze University is an amalgamation of former Jianghan Petroleum University, Hubei Agricultural University, Jingzhou Teacher’s University and Hubei Medical Staff College upon the approval of the Ministry of Education of P. R. China April 2003. Yangtze University, under the strong support of Hubei Province, is the largest and multidisciplinary university affiliated to Hubei Government.
Yangtze University is located in the famous ancient historic city of Jingzhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Jingzhou, with a history of more than 2,600 years, is the cradle of Chu Culture and one of primary places of Three Kingdoms culture. Jingzhou was the native place of Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet in China and a town of military importance in the periods of dozens of kingdoms and dynasties. To the east of Jingzhou is Wuhan, a hub city of traffic; to the west is the world-known project of Three Gorges; to the south is the vast lake of Dong Ting; to the north is the imposing beautiful mountain of Wu Dang. Having peaceful, picturesque campuses dotted with relaxing and scenic spaces, the university has been awarded as garden-like institution by Hubei Government.
The former Jianghan Petroleum University was affiliated to China National Petroleum Corporation. It grew out of Beijing Petroleum Industry School founded in Beijing in 1950 and was named Jianghan Petroleum University in 1978. Since 2000, the former Jianghan Petroleum University was put under the administration of Hubei Government and under the joint support from the central and local governments. The former Hubei Agricultural University grew out of Central China Agricultural College at Jingzhou initially established in 1977 and got its name upon the approval of the State Committee of Education in 1989. The former Jingzhou Teacher’s University grew out of Hubei No. 4 Normal School founded in 1936 and became Jingzhou Teachers’ College in 1978. It was combined to be Jingzhou Teacher’s University with other schools in 1999. The former Hubei Medical Staff College was initially established in 1951 and renamed Wuhan Medical College at Jingzhou in 1977. In 1984 the college at Jingzhou changed its name to be Hubei Medical Staff College.
The university campuses cover 2，195，300 square meters with a total structure area of 1,146,600 square meters. Its instruments and facilities for teaching are totally worth RMB 1,003 million Yuan. The university libraries boast a collection of 2,976,600 books, over 3,000 foreign and domestic kinds of journals and about 50 digital databases and network resources. The libraries have good relationships for mutual borrowing with libraries of Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science & Technology. The university has modernized teaching buildings, laboratory buildings, gyms, sports fields and swimming pools as well as large teaching hospitals.
The university has more than 3,000 faculty members, of whom 2,149 are full time teachers. Now 233 people are full professors and 501 are associate professors. There are over 1,154 having obtained their Doctoral or Master’s degree, including 241 doctoral members. It has 8 specially appointed professors from the Chu tian Scholar Project, 59 experts endowed with special grants from the State Council or the provincial government, 24 young and middle aged experts who won outstanding contribution prize from Hubei Government, 5 National Excellent Teachers and 5 Hubei Excellent Teachers. The university has invited several famous academicians from Chinese Academy of Sciences as part time professors.
The university offers 3 doctoral programs and 46 master’s programs including 4 master’s degree subjects of first level. It can grant master’s degree to applicants who have equivalent educational level of graduate, master’s degree of Engineering and master’s degree of agricultural promotion. The university has 80 undergraduate programs covering 10 disciplines, specifically economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agronomy, medicine and management. It has 14 ministerial and provincial level key subjects, 88 laboratories and laboratory centers, including 8 leading laboratories of ministerial and provincial level, 1 provincial engineering research center and 2 provincial humanity research key centers. In 2002-2004 national appraisals of first level subjects, its two subjects of “mineral investigating & prospecting” and “oil & gas engineering” rank in the top 10 subjects of the same kind. The university is prestigious in the research fields of petroleum science and technology, waterlogging and wetland agriculture, and Chu culture.
Yangtze University offers a variety of scholarships to inspire students to make excellent academic performances and to be talents in some specific areas. Besides Yangtze University excellent student scholarship and excellent freshman scholarship, there are nearly 40 kinds of scholarships which can be made a list: Sun Yueqi educational scholarship, China petroleum scholarship, China National Offshore Oil Corporation scholarship, China National Offshore Oil Corporation fund for in-need student, Sheng-li Oil field scholarship, Xinjiang Oil field scholarship, Da-gang oil field scholarship, COSL scholarship, He-nan oil field scholarship, Tu-ha oil field scholarship, Liao-he petroleum scholarship, Chuan-yu petroleum scholarship, BGP scholarship, Jiang-su oil field talent scholarship, Ta li mu oil field scholarship, An-dong petroleum scholarship, Schlumberger petroleum scholarship, Shang-xian scholarship, Xiang-zhi scholarship, Zheng-da scholarship, Tong-wei scholarship, Heng-tai college student innovation fund.
Since the launching of the “Tenth Five-Year Plan of China (2001-2005)”, the university has undertook 2,100 odd projects of various research programs from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, the National Basic Research Program and international collaborative programs. 316 projects got state awards or ministerial and provincial awards. 9,549 odd academic papers were published, among which 382 odd papers were included in three international indexes, SCI, EI and ISTP. The university has completed 200 odd textbook research projects from the State, the Ministries and Hubei Province. Many won awards including 1 national award for science and technology advancement, 3 national awards for teaching achievement and 57 teaching achievement from the Ministries and Hubei Province.
Yangtze University takes the initiative to reform the talent cultivating modes to meet the needs of the social and economic development. The university actively pushes the teaching reforms of credit system, supervisor system, major and minor system, double degrees system. The university pays a great attention to comprehensive development of students and cultivates quality talents who have pioneering and innovating spirits. More than 188,700 graduates completed their education in the university and reached out to play an important role in their work fronts and fields. Many of them have become experts in science management, professional backbones and business elites.
Yangtze University has established university and enterprise partnerships with 40 odd large sized and oversize state-owned enterprises. The university has appointed as the experiment institution of university-industry-science partnership from the Ministry of Education.
Yangtze University has entered into cooperative agreements with 22 odd institutions of higher learning from dozens of countries, such as the United States, UK, South Korea and Japan. It has developed academic exchanges with institutes and international organizations from over 39 countries and regions. In the past decade, the university has sent hundreds of staff members abroad for further studies, research projects, or other purposes and has invited more than 100 famous foreign and domestic scholars as part-time professors and guest professors. Yangtze University sends its students to study in foreign countries such as the United States，the United Kingdom and South Korea. Yangtze University offers all of its programs for foreign students to study.